Flo spent 52 in cook County Jail in 2016 because he couldn’t afford to pay his bond. He recorded this message, steeped in his personal experience, speaking to the urgent need to release people from Cook County Jail to protect public health.

Join him in calling on Cook County’s Sherrrif, Chief Judge and State’s Attorney to release people from Cook County Jail to protect public health: chicagobond.org/call-in

Transcript: Hello, my name is Flo. I spent 52 days in the county jail because I couldn’t afford to pay $7,500 to bond out. Without the help from Chicago Community Bond Fund, I would have sat in jail for more than a year fighting my case.

There are 5,000 people in the county jail and some are there simply because they can not afford to bond out, that’s not right. The determining factor for you sitting in jail should not be because you can not afford to post bond.

Today, in the fact of the Coronavirus, it’s makes the situation even more disturbing. Now here we are, we got people in jail who can’t afford to get out and their lives are in danger. The living conditions in Cook County Jail are not suitable for human beings. People are living like animals and there is no such thing as social distancing. In some places in the jail, people are squeezed together like sardines in a can and the sleeping arrangements are far less than the required six feet.

People’s lives are in jeopardy. Our elected officials are not doing enough. We have to do something. If we don’t, people are going to die. We need to take action now, not just here in Cook County but across the country.